Harold Baldwin, sculptor, industrial arts teacher, bronze caster, my high-school teacher, a good reason to continue with school despite the odds against. I had dropped out, my parents had divorced, I was landlocked in a hot desert town of Phoenix, Az. My Dad had flown in to check up on his dysfunctional family, I had eleven plantar warts on my hands. I felt angry and lost. I agreed to go back to school only if I could attend classes with the motivational high school sculpture teacher Mr. Harold Baldwin. Previously, the summer before freshman year began, I did everything I could to graduate early, I experienced my first art class. Summer school felt immersive, 4 hours a day 5 days a week for two months. I don't recall what he said I remember receiving attention for my drawing and sculptures. One of the first class assignments was to make a relief out of whatever. I glued macaroni on a plywood pyramid. Later, I completed carved stone and print making. I carved a large soapstone rock of me crying with tears running down my face. Mr. Harold Baldwin said it was good. I carved a piece of flat linoleum for print making with sharp tools again a self portrait with lines all over my face and tears. He said it was good. I was receiving positive attention. See below sculpture by HAROLD BALDWIN, Steam Punk Pinball, welded steel, glass
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Hello! We have had quite a year stuck at home. I ask you what else is there to do when at home?
Clean, yes, did that months ago. Re-organize, yup, working on it. Relax, and smell the roses literally. When I feel good, I do good, hurrah! Air purifiers are almost essential for removing the tiniest microscopic bothersome air floaters: animal dander, dust, viruses, and bacteria. Yes, I have clean air at home. Thank you dear husband for researching which one is best for our needs and budget! Eco friendly materials & paints are much cleaner than ever, hurrah for: Safe Coat Paint, Benjamin Moore's Natura, Farrow & Ball, and Eco Paints to name a few. Look for zero volatile organic compounds, zero V.O.C. on the label before painting your bedroom. Photo by artist Robert Williams, "Fear of Green", 2001, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Recently, I completed a project of the utmost difficulty and satisfied the requirements of my trade, amuse, amaze and befuddle. Am I a magician, a psychic, maybe a detective? Maybe a little of each. When I work, I belabor the difficulty of the materials, the questions of motivation. Am I an artist, what is the meaning of life? I keep working, looking at different angles, upside down, in reverse, different levels of light, surface, and reflective quality. Slowly, I build upon layer, after layer. My process has to meet tactile and health scent tests as well as visual critique unlike this easy made up world of printed words. Human eyes, the window of the soul, the visual sense, sees inward and outward. My process often leads back to the inner critic and the deep psyche, touching upon Carl Jung's collective unconsciousness and creative source. How do I exist on this planet? Am I worthy of the work? Would I have been a brave anthropologist, thorough psychologist, adequate chemist & engineer? Hey, I am doing the impossible here. I am bringing back to life a broken, smashed, has-been. No, not resurrecting a popular media idol recovering from a substance addiction. The task at hand is hiding every trace of what it means to be me. No artistic flourish of my signed signature, no finger-prints, no repeat patterns in color, texture and finish. No inclination that spell out married, female, white, privileged and American. I am a universal human being, doing the do. If it's a mountain I have to climb it, if it flows I have to swim in the waters, I hold myself accountable no matter my enjoyment of hyperbole. The job is complete, the check is deposited, the client is happy! Voila! The restoration job is beautiful, functional and discrete.
I will start in the beginning. Good ol' Mom and Dad, when I am stumped for an idea I hit the reset button.... A long time ago on a east coast beach my Dad courted my beautiful Mother, way before I was even a twinkle in their eye. Good color is calling to sensitive artists and the joy of life creators. Making a match whether we are talking about men and women or the color wheel, opposites can be complementary. Fiery-orange red set against pale gray blue is magnetic energy. See this Ralph Lauren style color photo below, my father cannot takes his eyes and hands off his beloved my mother. Color theory and love matches made in heaven. Dark blue meets red. Who am I?
Wife with a career #1 who lives in Los Angeles. Designer/Sculptor who loves virtue through science. My responsibilities as a professional artist include maintaining relationships with designers and clients as an authentic can-do-creator who delivers on time and within budget. I create original works, prototypes, art-story-series, commissioned portraits for private collectors, commercial design showrooms, film industry, and architects. What will this blog talk about? Art, beauty, eco-friendly materials and living well are subjects dear to me. I support others to be well and do well, as I feel good with the support of others who wish me well and success. In other words from the source, author Thomas Harris, M.D. of "I'm Okay, You're Okay". Is a rational guide for living. With the bravado of a novice, I enter the almost sacred world of the written word, the distinctive area that is abstract, channeled from my soul. I have nothing to fear, I listened to interviews from other writers and I believe it was Seth Godin, who I respect very much, may have said, no one reads anymore, if that is correct, my blog is going to fearless. |
Bonnie Nelson
Living as a professional artist I share my thoughts, opinions, and dreams. Archives
November 2022
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